Henry Cavill gets really intense about swords in a new Witcher video

I'd always had a very loosely-formed impression of Henry Cavill as kind of a stuffed shirt. I'm not sure why—maybe he's just too big and beautiful and perfect to not be a behind-the-scenes jerk in some way or other—but when I saw the meme of Jason Momoa sneaking up on him at the Suicide Squad premiere, for instance, I immediately assumed that it ended with Henry very cross and delivering a stern lecture about how rude it is to startle people, especially when they're talking to someone else.

(In reality, it ended wonderfully.)

I may owe him an apology, because the more I see of Cavill in The Witcher (and more specifically, Witcher-related promos), the more he seems like a full-tilt nerd who just happens to inhabit the body of a Greek god. He likes to stay home at night and play Total War: Warhammer 2, and while he'd naturally be expected to put on a good face while promoting the series, his fandom seems really genuine.

Yesterday, Cavill broke down the making of a lengthy single-take fight scene from the first episode of The Witcher, which was a lot of fun. But somehow he seems even more intense in this new video about Geralt's swords. Witchers carry two swords, one steel (actually meteorite, apparently) for killing men and conventional monsters, and the other silver, which is for magical monsters. And if you've ever wondered why they don't just stick with the silver one, which I'm sure would kill most people just fine, Henry can explain:

"Silver, normally useless because of its malleability and how soft it is, against a monster which is magical in nature is deadly," he says in the video. "When it comes to a monster hunt, or defeating a monster of a magical nature, it's always going to be a big process involved with finally getting to face this monster. And he keeps that silver sword on his faithful companion, Roach. And so every time it's needed, hopefully, everything is pre-planned."

Cavill also talks about how he requested a redesign of the steel sword's hilt in order to make it more suitable for Geralt's fighting style, and explains the significance of having Renfri's brooch attached to it. He also discusses the multiple types of swords used in the production, including rubber and "cutdown" versions like the one he talked about in yesterday's fight scene video, which help to avoid serious injuries and the "nightmare" that would result for the hair and makeup departments. (Hey, continuity is important.)

The second season of The Witcher on Netflix is coming, but not until sometime in 2021. An anime film is also in the works.

This series was not good enough